Entertainment
‘Off Campus’ Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli Reveal the Most Difficult and “Exhausting” Scenes To Film
Prime Video has just dropped its latest soapy drama, Off Campus, and has already greenlit a second season to come. The series is based on the four-book romance novel series of the same name by Elle Kennedy, with Season 1 being primarily based on the first book in the series, The Deal. In the show, we follow star hockey team captain Garrett Graham (Belmont Cameli) and music student Hannah Wells (Ella Bright) as they accidentally fall in love after making a deal for Hannah to tutor Garrett and for Garrett to pretend to date Hannah.
With bubbling chemistry between the two leads, Collider sat down with Cameli and Bright to discuss their experience playing the two lovers and the sex scenes they had to film, breaking down how they were cast, and playing through the more serious scenes between their characters. While Season 1 of the series is fairly light, the show also doesn’t shy away from the topics that Kennedy covers in her books, specifically Hannah’s past assault and the physical abuse Garrett has experienced from his father. Read the full interview below!
Belmont Cameli and Ella Bright Reveal the Casting Process for Hannah and Garrett in ‘Off Campus’
“We get along great, and it was super easy and fun.”
COLLIDER: First off, I love this series. I love the books, and you guys are such a good Hannah and Garrett. It’s honestly so great to see you guys on screen and meshing together really well. I’m curious, what was it like when you guys first met, and did you have a chemistry read or anything like that? What was that experience like?
ELLA BRIGHT: Yeah, the chemistry read was pretty crazy. There were about 22 actors in that room.
BELMONT CAMELI: There were 28. There were so many people.
BRIGHT: That’s a lot of people, and everyone was kind of filing in. They were finding the hockey team, Hannah and Allie’s relationship, Hannah and Garrett, and Justin. I was reading with a couple of the Garretts, and it felt really great, but when Bel came in, it was like a whole other story. He left the room, and everyone was like, “Well, that’s obviously Garrett Graham.” It was kind of immediate. It was very, very fun. That was a really exciting day. The energy just felt very electric. It was very cool.
CAMELI: Yeah. Our scenes felt really honest and simple, and good. We were fast friends, like, from the chemistry read until when we got on set together, and then we spent all summer together sitting in chairs like this when we weren’t on set. We get along great, and it was super easy and fun.
What was it like filming for the first time? Do you guys remember the first scene you filmed together?
BRIGHT: It was when she first tutors him in philosophy. It’s when she first comes to his room.
CAMELI: That was our first scene together?
BRIGHT: Yeah, that was our first scene together.
CAMELI: Oh, that’s nice.
BRIGHT: Yeah, cute scene.
CAMELI: It’s funny because when you start something completely new, you’re like, “Okay, I’ve done all the prep that I’ve done, and I feel ready,” but you never are. It still takes filming to find certain things, and then by the end of a shooting block, you can be like, “Alright, well, I’ve done these things, so it’s informing this.” But at the beginning, you’re not informed by anything yet, so it’s really just about listening and trusting and trying things and playing, and that went just swimmingly. It was fun to just get started.
Cameli and Bright Discuss Filming the Intimate Sex Scenes of ‘Off Campus’
“We feel really comfortable and safe as much as you can shooting a sex scene.”
Obviously, this series is very steamy, and I feel like those scenes can be a little bit daunting to film. What was it like for you guys prepping for it? Did you guys work with an intimacy coordinator? What was the pre-planning period for it?
CAMELI: Everything gets discussed, down to every last detail, with our intimacy coordinator, with showrunners, with writers.
BRIGHT: With each other.
CAMELI: Yeah, with each other. The sex on the show is to advance the narrative. There’s an emotional journey happening separately and together for these characters, and so the sex is to reflect whatever’s happening or what they’re thinking of or what they’re not considering, yada, yada. So, the conversations we have ahead of time, before those scenes, are lengthy and detailed, and sometimes we’re like, “Okay, we just talked about it so much,” but it’s important that we did because then you can get there on the day, and our intimacy coordinator is there helping us feel safe. Everything’s been thought through and talked about. So yeah, we feel really comfortable and safe, as much as you can shooting a sex scene.
‘Off Campus’ Most Serious Scenes Were Also the Most Exhausting and Difficult Scenes To Play
“Ultimately, some of these more dramatic and real arcs were hard.”
I’m very curious about both of your characters because they both have a lot of serious past trauma in their lives, and I think it might surprise some people coming into the series for the first time, because the way it’s presented, you kind of get blindsided by it even in the book when you’re reading it. What was it like exploring that trauma for both of your characters and getting into the meat of those types of topics?
BRIGHT: It’s definitely something that drew me to the books and the part, from the beginning. Like college, the show is fun and sexy, and it has all these really entertaining and exciting parts. But like life, people are complex, and life is difficult in some moments, and both of these characters have these harder aspects to their lives that create these conversations, and it was so beautiful to get to explore that. We both put a lot of care and thought into every line that was written by our incredible team of writers and showrunner, who were just so talented, and it was a really awesome space to be able to portray these characters that I think have a really special relationship.
CAMELI: Ultimately, some of these more dramatic and real arcs were hard. They’re kind of exhausting sometimes. Like, playing out Garrett’s rage for a whole summer was pretty taxing, to be totally honest. But that’s, like you said, same as you, Ella, what drew me to this character. And in a YA show, it’s an elevated YA show, it was an opportunity to play out some heavier themes that you may not normally get from a show in this lane. So, that’s what really excited me and drew me to this character and the show. And then it was just great to have an opportunity to play those things out and hopefully give an audience something meaningful to take away from.
I really liked your scenes with Steve Howey. You kind of fooled me a little bit because I was like, “Oh, maybe he’s a different man,” and then I was like, “Oh, no.”
CAMELI: Yeah, that tug of war of wanting him to be good and wanting him to change was something that Steve and I talked a lot about, too.
Belmont Cameli Reveals His Expertise in Hockey in ‘Off Campus’
“I’m getting better every day.”
Belmont, this season is very physical for you, playing a hockey player. I did just talk to the guys, and I’m curious if you had any hockey experience going into this and what the training and prep were like for that.
CAMELI: Well, if you talk to the guys already, you know that I’m the fastest in the group.
They didn’t mention that.
BRIGHT: They didn’t?!
CAMELI: Really? Unbelievable.
BRIGHT: Crazy they wouldn’t say that.
CAMELI: Well, I mean, because they’re embarrassed. They’re slow. I’m like a fucking blur out there. It’s nuts. Which is even crazier because I’d never played hockey before, but I pretty much just stepped out there and started cutting it up. And, yeah, it’s gotten to a place now where Stephen [Kalyn] will come up to me and be like, “How do I do this?” I’ll be like, “Here’s how you do it,” I’ll show him how to do it. No, I’m kidding. I sucked at hockey when I started. I couldn’t fucking stand up. [Laughs] But I’m getting better every day. Not every day, because I can’t train every day. But mentally, I am getting better every day because I visualize.
BRIGHT: It’s great.
CAMELI: So that helps.
One day, Stephen will come to you for advice. That’s the goal.
BRIGHT: It’s coming.
CAMELI: Yes, 100%. I can’t wait for that day. It’s gonna so good.
‘Off Campus’ Stars Share Their Ideal Songs for Hannah and Garrett
“That was kind of the first thing I did was create a playlist for Hannah and a Pinterest board and read the book and get everything together as my prep.”
So, something I’m asking all of the cast is if you have a specific song or a playlist that helped you get into the mood of playing your characters.
BRIGHT: Yeah, absolutely. It’s been really cool. We got to recently share these playlists with some of the supporters of the show, which has been really fun. But yeah, for me, that was kind of the first thing I did was create a playlist for Hannah and a Pinterest board and read the book and get everything together as my prep. There are a lot of songs. There’s a lot of Taylor Swift in there that I do feel relates to her in many ways.
CAMELI: I built a playlist of what I just thought was Garrett’s taste in music. His taste in music in the book is, because the book’s 10 years old, so it was classic, classic rock, and I certainly have some of those in there, but I kind of updated it to more of a more modern version of it. And then I have a Fuck Phil Graham playlist of just, like, rage songs that I listen to quite a bit during filming, and it really helps you get there.
You have to share that Fuck Phil Graham playlist.
CAMELI: It’s public. It’s out there. You can go listen to it.
- Release Date
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May 13, 2026
- Network
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Prime Video
- Directors
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Silver Tree
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